It is with heavy hearts that the French swimmers return home from the Berlin stop of the World Cup today, as French Swimming Technical Director Christian Donze has passed away from a heart attack.

Donze was effectively the head of the French Federation, and oversaw the rise of France from swimming obscurity to one of the world’s aquatic powers.

In a statement, the French Federation said the following:

We have just learned with amazement the sudden death of Christian Donze, National Technical Director, who suffered a heart attack. In these painful and unexpected circumstances, the President of the Federation and the entire French Swimming together to address the Christian family its deepest condolences and assure him of his support.

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder of SwimSwam.com.
He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming.
Aside from his life on the InterWet, …